Dia de los Muertos installation at Somewhere on San Juan

Friday

Nov 2, 2012 at 1:00 PM

“It is a tradition, not a religion,” said Apolo Miranda, as he showed the installation he and his wife, Alejandra Lerma, have created to demonstrate the tradition of el Dia de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead).

Bette McFarren

“It is a tradition, not a religion,” said Apolo Miranda, as he showed the installation he and his wife, Alejandra Lerma, have created to demonstrate the tradition of el Dia de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead). The installation may be viewed at the Somewhere on San Juan studio 1 to 7 p.m. through Saturday. “It is a tradition of the Maya and Inca people of the Americas,” he said, “who believe in an earthly life after death. It is like the Egyptians, with their tombs containing the things their pharaoh loved, to comfort him on his journey into the other world.”

The tradition is older than the Spanish invasion of the Americas, going back for thousands of years. Before the Spanish came, the feast was celebrated for the entire month of August. With the coming of Christianity, it was moved to coincide with All Saints’ Day. Lerma said that in Oaxaca, there are still two weeks of feast days. “You can eat and drink and dance in celebration of the lives of the dead.” In some places, she added, people are allowed to dig up the bones of their departed and clean them. “It is for the saints and the innocents,” she added.

Lerma also told of the reasons various items are included in the decorations. The food and drink are put out on the table in a central location, usually in the living room, and consist of the foods and drinks the departed liked to consume when he was alive. The brightly colored flowers are put on the grave, so that the departed may scatter them on the road to find his way back to the cemetery. Of course, brightly colored flowers are put on the table, as well. The candles are also put on the grave as well as the table, so that the loved one may see his way on the road.

“Sometimes people go out to the cemetery to spend part of the night with their loved one,” she added.